Phase 6

Evaluation and validation (phase 6):
Phase 6 of the
overall policy development process serves to expose the model-based scenarios
(i.e. the simulation results) to different actor groups (domain experts and
stakeholders). The purpose is that the actor groups assess, evaluate and
validate the results of the simulation and therewith compare them with the
evidence-based scenarios they have generated. Through this evaluation steps,
stakeholders can reflect their positions expressed in scenarios. They may
enrich their scenarios (feeding information into
phase 2
) or may also
better understand opposite positions of other stakeholders and negotiate the
result of common agreement. A key benefit of social simulation is that aspects
most probably not evident to the stakeholders through textual descriptions
become visible.